Stephen King was, at one time, my favorite author. That is, until he started backing away from writing hardcore horror fiction and started writing books about baseball and such (and when I started getting more-and-more into reading the aforementioned “urban fantasy“ novels by writers such as Patricia Briggs, Lilith Saintcrow and Yasmine Galenorn, among others). Anyway, On Writing is one of my all-time favorite Stephen King books even though it’s not the aforesaid hardcore horror fiction that made him a household name. In the book, King gives aspiring writers tips on how to become a successful writer and whatnot. Interspersed with said writing tips are stories from King’s own childhood that helped shaped his writing abilities. To be honest, I’ve always been a fan of Stephen King’s nonfiction writing (the baseball stuff excluded, of course). In fact, I’ve found the “forewords” and “afterwords” to his books just as enjoyable as the book itself, and sometimes even more so. Which is one of the reasons I found this book such a treat. As a matter of fact, Stephen’s nonfiction style of writing--as amply displayed in this book--has been a major influence on my own nonfiction--and even fiction--style of writing (and I’ll, of course, let you decide for yourself if that’s a good or a bad thing!). And, FYI, I’ve also been a huge fan of Stephen King’s short stories of which he’s also compiled into various books (of which I intend to review at a later date).
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